ST. VINCENT Preliminary Production Notes Publicity materials are available at: twcpublicity.com Running Time: 102 mins MPAA Rating: PG-13 1 SYNOPSIS The singular Bill Murray teams with first-time director/screenwriter Ted Melfi for ST. VINCENT, the story of a young boy who develops an unusual friendship with the cantankerous old guy next door. Maggie (Melissa McCarthy), a single mother, moves into a new home in Brooklyn with her 12-year old son, Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher). Forced to work long hours, she has no choice but to leave Oliver in the care of their new neighbor, Vincent (Bill Murray), a retired curmudgeon with a penchant for alcohol and gambling. An odd friendship soon blossoms between the improbable pair. Together with a pregnant stripper named Daka (Naomi Watts), Vincent brings Oliver along on all the stops that make up his daily routine – the race track, a strip club, and the local dive bar. Vincent helps Oliver grow to become a man, while Oliver begins to see in Vincent something that no one else is able to: a misunderstood man with a good heart. The Weinstein Company, with Chernin Entertainment, present ST. VINCENT, starring Bill Murray (THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, THE MONUMENTS MEN), Melissa McCarthy (TAMMY, THE HEAT), Naomi Watts (THE IMPOSSIBLE, J. EDGAR), Chris O’Dowd (CALVARY, THOR: THE DARK WORLD), Terrence Howard (LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER, HUSTLE AND FLOW) and newcomer Jaeden Lieberher (A MANY SPLINTERED THING). ST. VINCENT is written, directed and produced by Ted Melfi, in his feature theatrical film debut. The other producers are Peter Chernin (DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, THE HEAT), Fred Roos (THE STORY OF LUKE, EXPIRED), and Jenno Topping (THE HEAT, COUNTRY STRONG). Ivana Lombardi co-produced the project, with Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Dylan Sellers, Don Cheadle and G. Mac Brown executive producing. The Director of Photography is John Lindley (YOU’VE GOT MAIL, PLEASANTVILLE), and the Editors are Sarah Flack (DAYS AND NIGHTS, THE BLING RING), and Peter Teschner (IDENTITY THIEF, HORRIBLE BOSSES). The film’s Production Designer is Inbal Weinberg (THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES, THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER) with costumes by Kasia Walicka- Maimone (MOONRISE KINGDOM, MONEYBALL). 2 DO YOUR HOMEWORK: THE ORIGIN OF ST. VINCENT The roots of the story of ST. VINCENT were inspired by a life-altering moment in writer/director/producer Ted Melfi’s own life. When his older brother passed away at the age of thirty-eight seven years ago, he went to the funeral and realized his eleven year-old niece had nowhere to go. Melfi and his wife quickly decided to adopt her and move her from a small, rural town in Tennessee to where they lived in Sherman Oaks, California. Once enrolled in Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, Melfi’s niece received a homework assignment with the following prompt: Find the Catholic saint that inspires you, and find someone in your real life that mimics the qualities of that saint. She picked St. William of Rochester, who is the Patron Saint of Adopted Children, and selected Melfi as the match. A very moved Melfi realized that it was the perfect idea for a movie. Instead of characters like himself and his niece though, he wanted to use an old curmudgeonly guy who’d lost his will to live and a young boy. Bill Murray seemed to be perfect for the role. Recalls the filmmaker: “That’s the genesis of the story: this young boy moves in next to this cantankerous alcoholic played by Bill Murray, and they become best friends. This little adopted eleven year-old boy makes Bill Murray the saint in his assignment, and they both change each other’s lives. That’s how this whole project started - from a homework assignment.” CASTING (AND CHASING) ST. VINCENT Although Melfi had Murray in mind for the starring role, desiring to cast Murray and actually tracking him down are two very different animals. It is not a task for those easily discouraged. Melfi explains: “Bill has no manager or agent. He has just a 1-800 number, and so you spend a fair amount of time leaving messages on the 1-800 number and hoping that it’s actually his. You leave message after message and start having a relationship with an answering machine, kind of like in SWINGERS.” But Melfi kept trying. After six months of playing phone tag, Melfi found himself meeting up with Murray at LAX at 9am one morning over Memorial Day weekend. Talking over the script and stopping at In N Out Burger along the way, the eight-hour meeting in the back of Murray’s Towncar solidified the actor’s interest in the project. Notes Murray: “The script was different. It had a different rhythm than most things have and had a lot of emotion in the story. Ted had a pretty good way of writing it that has the potential to not be sentimental at all, which is how I really like to see emotion delivered: without sentimentality at all. You feel it, and you’re not tricked into it. You’re not drenched in it. You just get it. It comes at you, and it comes as a natural outcome of the way the plot goes.” Melfi was not just willing to receive Murray’s comments – he viewed the opportunity to collaborate with Murray as a life-changing experience. “Working with Bill, I’ve learned a tremendous amount about directing, about writing, and about life. He would tell me many times: ‘Don’t let stress take over. Stress is the death of art and the death of comedy.’ He would tell me: ‘Don’t let the scene become what it’s not. Don’t get caught up in what you think is funny. Trust the material and trust the writing.’ He brings stuff to the table when he has to, but other than that he stays out of its way, which is a gift. And he’s taught me to stay 3 out of its way – to know when it’s working, see when it’s working and to leave it alone. I can’t think of a better person to learn anything from comedically and artistically than Bill Murray. He has to be the coolest person on the planet.” With the coup of landing Bill Murray as Vincent, Melfi faced another challenge: finding a young boy able to play opposite him. The story is largely seen through the eyes of Oliver, and Melfi was very particular about the kind of child he wanted for the role: “With kid actors, you really want someone who is a kid first and an actor second. You can get acting out of a lot of people, and especially children because they’re so open and available, but you can’t get an actor to be a kid.” The filmmaking team auditioned about 1,500 candidates over the course of six months. There was pressure to find someone who could handle the grueling schedule of a film shoot and not be overly intimidated by working with Bill Murray, Naomi Watts and Melissa McCarthy. Whoever they found also had to be able to hold their own and carry a movie. Comments Melfi: “Vincent is the lead, obviously, but the character of Oliver is the glue of the script. That’s the guy who holds it all together for all the other characters that are spinning out of control. That’s a lot to ask for any actor, much less a child.” In young actor Jaeden Lieberher, the filmmakers discovered an extraordinary talent with a quiet confidence - he fit the bill perfectly. Jaeden is preternaturally poised on and off screen, a smart, sage young person who handled his first film role with grace. Melfi enthuses: “Jaeden is just an exceptional human. To me, he’s a lot like Bill Murray in his humanity. He understands people, he understands how to react, he understands how not to act, he doesn’t try, he’s fully present at all times, and he’s still. He’s calm…and that still and calm is irreplaceable. At any moment Jaeden is there as a presence that is still and calm which is affecting all the other characters. He’s like a ninety year-old, but yet when he smiles and giggles it breaks your heart. He is going to have a remarkable life. I don’t know whether that life will be in acting. I hope so for him because he’s so talented, but regardless, his inner spirit overwhelms me.” Murray confesses that it is not always so great to work with kids, however ten year-old Jaeden really impressed him. “I’m not so sure about kid actors usually, but he’s very good,” Murray says. “I liked him more everyday. There was one day he was just so good, he was as good as anybody I’ve ever seen be good in a scene. It was just great. He was relentless and unstoppable…he really shines.” Executive Producer G. Mac Brown affirms that they definitely found the right young man for the role: “Jaeden was the obvious choice, and he’s been unbelievably good. He’s a real find. He’s already got his next job.” In fact, toward the end of the ST. VINCENT shoot, Jaeden was tapped for a role in a Cameron Crowe film, only his second film. Murray, having had a great experience with his young co-star, soon followed Jaeden and joined the cast of Crowe’s film as well.